Just a thread for different kindsa interesting things

[zn]

Dad reflexes 😮 pic.twitter.com/vlWaZkNVcj

— Tansu YEĞEN (@TansuYegen) September 18, 2022

[zn]

Grace Slick@GraceSlick_JA

I wrote White Rabbit on a red upright piano that cost me about $50. It had eight or 10 keys missing, but that was OK because I could hear in my head the notes that weren’t there.

[zn]

[zn]

This is sorcery. pic.twitter.com/eEfjpzbNa0

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) December 11, 2022

[zn]

from quora. 

.

[zn note: we know all this but good stories are good stories]

.

How were black American soldiers treated by British people during World War II?

.

Generally very well. There was some of what we would now see as racism but it was different from racism in the US. A black soldier (British Caribbean I think) reported that in some rural villages the uneducated white girls genuinely believed that black people were born with tails which had to be amputated at birth – but that just meant that when he slow-danced with white girls and held them close, he would sometimes feel a surreptitious hand groping his arse to see if he had a stump (that was their excuse, anyway).

.

In many areas black troops were the first American troops to arrive, and when white American troops came later and started treating their black countrymen as second class citizens most people here were disgusted. There was a joke going around that “I like the Yanks, but I can’t say the same for those white chaps they brought with them”, and when senior US officers tried to insist that British pubs should have a colour bar, some pubs responded by banning white Americans. A white American officer tried to bully a black British-Caribbean soldier the way he expected to bully black Americans back home, and the soldier said “I’m British: nobody talks to me like that” and punched him.

.

[It seems to me that that was always the biggest difference between racism in the US and UK. There were plenty of racists here too, but here if a racist threatened you with violence or made a serious attempt to bully you you were allowed to whack them, and so long as you didn’t get too carried away the courts would back you.

.

I’ve always remember an incident I must have read about nearly 50 years ago, where a large group of white US soldiers chased a smaller group of black US soldiers down the road and round the corner into the arms of a group of Seaforth Highlanders coming the other way, who promptly waded in on the side of the black guys.

[zn]

This is from the wikipedia entry on the Monty Python song, “Always Look On the Bright Side of Life,” which of course is from the ending bit from Life of Brian.

The song touched a chord with the British trait of stoicism and the “stiff upper lip” in the face of disaster, and became immensely popular. When the destroyer HMS Sheffield was struck by an Exocet cruise missile on 4 May 1982 in the Falklands War, her crew sang it while waiting to be rescued from their sinking ship,<sup id=”cite_ref-9″ class=”reference”>[9]</sup> as did the crew of HMS Coventry,<sup id=”cite_ref-10″ class=”reference”>[10]</sup> with the line from the song “Worse things happen at sea, you know” being especially ironic.

[Zooey]

What a way to live… pic.twitter.com/y6KB8UBEWI

— Christian Nightmares (@ChristnNitemare) January 19, 2023

 

(I think I made a boo-boo)

[zn]

Mac. McClung. pic.twitter.com/5g6X9lr38D

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) February 19, 2023

[nittany ram]

Alien: the (very) low budget version

[source: https://t.co/fNhTkO4rTt] #SundayFundaypic.twitter.com/b2dyFqs05P

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 19, 2023

[zn]

Meet Lucy.

A 13-year-old who is blind and neurodiverse — as she plays a highly-complex Chopin piece.

This is truly incredible…
pic.twitter.com/6VK0VMwtWN

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) February 19, 2023

[Zooey]

The Universe has an edge: not in space, but in #time.
"The edge of the Universe,as it appears to us,is unique to our perspective; we can see back 13.8 bn years in time in all directions, a situation that depends on the spacetime location of the observer."https://t.co/RigAvXa9nM

— Venus Throw (@OneVenusThrow) February 28, 2023

[zn]

Florida:

With her team down 4–1 in the top of the 5th Grand View catcher Kaitlyn Moses smoked a go-ahead grand slam. As she approached second base, she collapsed with an ankle injury. She’s “out” if her teammates or coaches help.

So her OPPONENTS helped her round the bases… pic.twitter.com/UANkgbSmap

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) March 2, 2023

[zn]

This man is a HERO‼️ Francis Zuber ‘s headcam shows him rescuing a snowboarder who was buried head down in deep powder at Mt. Baker, Washington! Luckily, he spotted him as he almost passed him. #skiing #snowboarding pic.twitter.com/SyWYFSXcPd

— DeL2000 (@DeL2000) April 1, 2023

[Zooey]

Nobody wants to work anymore https://t.co/XGhSi8K733

— Antifa HR Director (@berniehoe2) April 11, 2023

[zn]

Surfing a 115 foot wave 🌊 pic.twitter.com/asP8WGxlzB

— OddIy Terrifying (@OTerrifying) April 30, 2023

[Zooey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU1DsipURcM&ab_channel=NASAGoddard

[zn]

Zooey wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU1DsipURcM&ab_channel=NASAGoddard

Turns out that vid, whatever it is, is private and won’t play

[Zooey]

[Zooey]

pic.twitter.com/Zm81Eyi7BE

— 🚷Snotrocket (@KnifeFightr) May 22, 2023

[zn]

I don’t think y’all understand how insane this is. pic.twitter.com/r8NK1Z2hXs

— The Pettiest Laker Fan 🤫 (@ThePettiestLA) July 15, 2023

[Zooey]

🇨🇦 A giant iceberg has sailed to the Canadian island of Newfoundland pic.twitter.com/lPJ0xSCvDO

— Spriter Team (@SpriterTeam) August 1, 2023

[zn]

Zooey wrote:

A giant iceberg has sailed to the Canadian island of Newfoundland

The poor people in that house! The iceberg is obstructing their view.

😎

[zn]

Female Bruce Lee👍

pic.twitter.com/Srdksa0nBM

— Tansu YEĞEN (@TansuYegen) August 2, 2023

[nittany ram]

40 million year old fossil whale may have been three times heavier than today’s blue whale – turns whale evolutionary thought on its head…

…

New species of ancient whale found in Peru may be heaviest animal ever, scientists say

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/science/new-species-of-ancient-whale-found-in-peru-may-be-heaviest-animal-ever-scientists-say

[zn]

I can't even parallel park. pic.twitter.com/5JRUnz9hM2

— jamie (@gnuman1979) August 6, 2023

[zn]

from Ian on quora

Whittier is a port of call for cruise ships.There’s only one road in and out of the town, and it’s through a 2.5-mile-long tunnel through a mountain, and it’s the only land access to the town. Previously, the only ways to reach the town had been rail, boat and plane.

Once inside Whittier, there’s a 14-story building that makes up the entire town. In the building, there’s a school, health clinic, a market, a post office, police station and in the basement there’s a church.

In 1964, an earthquake struck the area, and as of 2022 it was the largest US earthquake measuring 9.2 on the “Richter Scale.” What became known as the “Good Friday Earthquake” caused Tsunamis along the west coast of the US.

One of the places that got struck was Whittier, when a 43ft high wave washed over the town, killing 13 people.

[wv]

Recursive spiraling squares

📹Mustafa Omarpic.twitter.com/xDai0tU8br

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 3, 2023

[zn]

I hugged him the night he died. He was supposed to join us in Tunisia for a role in the Life of Brian. A very sweet man. https://t.co/30T0KMfpr9

— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) September 8, 2023

[zn]

Corny presentation but interesting concept.

…

[Zooey]

[Author]

Posts